IceHogs Rout Abbotsford 2/16/13

IceHogs Rout Abbotsford 2/16/13

An offensive surge and effective
special teams helped the Rockford IceHogs win 7-2 over the visiting
Abbotsford Heat at the BMO Harris Bank Center on Saturday night.

Rockford tallied five of their seven goals within a 10-minute span
during the first period on the AHL's stingiest goaltender in Barry
Brust.

The Hogs scoring frenzy began at the 6:03 mark of the first period with
Kyle Beach in possession of the puck behind the Heat net. The winger
found Kenndal McArdle crashing the net, who put home his second goal of
the season as he was tripped up, giving Rockford the 1-0 lead.

Just two minutes later, Brandon Pirri bumped the lead up to 2-0 while on
the power play. Brust kicked away Pirri's first shot, but the forward
was relentless and backhanded his own rebound into the open net to give
Rockford the 2-0 advantage. Adam Clendening added his team-leading 23rd
assist on the play while Terry Broadhurst recorded his fourth helper on
the campaign.

At the 12:12 mark, Martin St. Pierre added to the Hogs lead. Broadhurst
found the IceHogs captain open at the right faceoff circle who snapped a
wrist shot over Brust's right shoulder for his team-best 17th goal of
the season.

A minute and a half later and back
on their third power play of the period, Clendening got in on the
scoring as he one-timed a Ben Youds pass from the blueline through
traffic and past Brust. Jimmy Hayes also helped on the play.

The flurry ceased at the 15:40 mark
of the opening period with Rockford shorthanded. Jeremy Morin and Shawn
Lalonde perfected a 2-on-1 break that began in the Rockford zone as
Lalonde connected on his fourth goal of the campaign to give the Hogs
the 5-0 lead.

Abbotsford figured out Rockford
goaltender Carter Hutton midway through the second frame with the
IceHogs on the penalty kill. Tyler Ruegsegger found Ben Walter open in
the slot who slipped it past Hutton to bring the score to 5-1.

Rockford got the tally right back on
their fifth power play of the evening. Brad Mills dished the puck to
Pirri in the high slot, who sniped his second goal of the evening over
Brust's right shoulder. Morin also assisted on the goal, marking his
second point of the night.

Abbotsford's Krys Kolanos tallied
the Heat's second goal just 55 seconds into the third period on a pass
from Walter. Ryan Howse was credited with the secondary assist.

David Gilbert capped the scoring for
the IceHogs at the 11:20 mark of the final frame as his centering pass
from behind the net deflected off the skate of Brust and trickled over
the goal line, giving Gilbert his first goal of the season and the game
its ultimate 7-2 final.

The Hogs out-shot the Heat 38-23 and
converted on three of eight man-advantages on the night, dropping
Abbotsford out of the top spot in the league's penalty kill rankings.
Four of Rockford's six goals came from each of the special teams units.

Carter Hutton stopped 21 Abbotsford shots on the evening and earned his 17th win on the campaign.